A musical Trip: The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

A holiday in Florence means a world to discover. There are many kind of different thematic journeys which are possible, from the museum and work of arts itinerary to the culinary trip, not to mention the great experience of living in an ancient Florentine villa or in a restored farmhouse.

In an artistic trip of Florence music covers a basic role. Here was born in the ‘500, the melodrama and the town boasts a very long tradition. The Florentine Maggio Musicale is the most ancient and prestigious European Festival, together with Bayreuth and Salizburg. The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino was instituted in 1933 by Vittorio Gui. Since it began the Maggio Festival it has fascinated the whole world for its main cultural choice which has been always offering and preserving, for which the greatest theatrical and film producers of our times have been called upon.

In the year celebrating the bicentenary of Richard Wagner’s birth (1813-2013), the Maggio Musicale opens its season with the important work “Die Walküre”, represented for the first time in Munich, as a will of Ludwig II, on 25th June 1870. This is probably the most popular opera of the tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen. Winner of 7 international awards- made by critics from 10 countries- is probably the closest to the concept of total work of art with which Wagner himself categorized the opera.

The opera will be performed at the Communal Theatre of Florence from the 18th to the 24th January 2013, with a majestic staging, directed by Calus Padrissa, of La Fura dels Baus, a very interesting theatre company which started as a street theater group acting in different towns and cities around Catalonia. The direction of the opera is given to the famous Director Zubin Mehta.

The program is however very rich and will offer about 200 events, including 15 opera titles, 12 ballets and 61 concert evenings. The Maggio Danza (the dance section) will provide a magical program, with Igor Stravinsky’s avant-garde Rite of Spring, quite debated at his first performance in 1913 and part of a tribute series to Stravinsky, which will also include The Soldier’s Tale and The Wedding. On the concert side are Carl Orff’s energetic Carmina Burana, one of the 61 spectacular concerts that will include music from classical composers as Mozart, Brahms, Dvořák, Mahler and Bach, as well as more modern composers, such as Gianluca Cascioli and Michele Dall’Ongaro.

“Admire Florence with your eyes and listen to her with your heart”, is the sentence-symbol of the 2013 Festival, and this is the advice we also would like to leave you with.

Simona

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